THE CULTIVATOR 
145 
his team, for any purpose, and avoids it as long as possible. The 
interior of his house shows, that its overseer has somewhat falter¬ 
ed. Why should she not! Who sees the fine order in which she 
had been accustomed to keep every part of her dominions! Few 
and far between are the observers of this neatness : and its cost, in 
labor, is doubled, aye quadrupled upon her. See the children, who 
before looked so cheerly and so well:—a change has come over eve¬ 
ry think around the dwelling. Suppose, now, that when this man 
and his little family, landed at their habitation, every road in the 
country had been as good as the McAdam road from Albany to Troy: 
—what would be the appearance of things in and about that house ! 
Vastly above the starting point, in every respect. And why 7 Sim¬ 
ply because the man, with his wife, and his children, would have 
journeyed, and mingled and associated, and formed intimacies with 
others above, as well as below, themselves in respect to comforts.— 
A constant and living intercourse, the ground work of the difference 
which is perceived between town and country, between sparse and 
dense populations, between countries where you can move, and 
countries where you are clogged, hampered, fettered, would have 
been kept up,—and the moral bearing of good roads would receive, 
in this single instance, an illustration so palpable and so powerful, 
that the impression would never wear off. 
Stop social intercourse, and we should assume the moccasin and 
the blanket, sooner than is generally supposed ;—the slighest check, 
tends to the same point. 
But I am losing sight of the object that induced me to trouble 
you; which was to say, that in the senate of your state, in 1831 or 
1832, a report was made by the committee on roads, accompanied 
by a bill, authorising towns, at their annual meetings, to determine 
by vote whether their highway taxes should be paid, within certain 
prescribed limits, in money; and prescribing the manner in which 
the money, if the town should determine to raise it, should be appli¬ 
ed. I do not know the details of this bill, and am not certain that 
a copy of it can be found on the files ; but I have heard it spoken of 
favorably, and I think it probable some useful hints might be found 
in the bill and report, if any one having leisure, should have also the 
industry to look them up. The bill was not acted on—although Gov. 
Throop had strongly recommended the subject, in his message, to 
legislative attention. Neither the report nor the bill may be worth 
republishing entire ; but I should be glad if you could get sight of 
them, so as to judge whether a publication of parts might not draw 
out the views of some who have reflected on the importance, the 
condition , and the best way to improve the highways of your state, 
and others. In timbered land, the most valuable improvement, in 
proportion to its cost, that I could suggest, would be to cut out at 
least ten or twelve rods in breadth, fifteen would be better, along the 
line of every road. The effect of a rapid and a tardy evaporation is 
seen, whenever we leave open land for timbered land, or the re¬ 
verse. -• 
THE GRUB WORM. 
Mr. Buel—Sir —I saw in the October number of the Cultivator, 1 
some remarks on the cut worm and the Hessian fly. If you think 
the following short narrative respecting the cut worm, worth pub¬ 
lishing, it is at your service. As I kept no record, I relate from me- 
mory. 
When I was a young man I tried the following experiment: I 
took three large cut worms, and put them into a tin box, with some 
earth for them to bury themselves in. Once or twice I put in a few 
fresh leaves of pig-weed—they ate but little. I waited till I thought 
they had changed into the chrysolite state. On examining them, 
I found that two of them had died before they changed, the other 
was perfectly changed, and of a dark, reddish brown color. In due 
time it passed to the second change, and came forth a darkish grey 
moth. I then began to look for some of the same kind. I soon 
found great numbers of them in the windows in the evening, and 
have since found many of them concealed between boards, in stone 
heaps, &c. I thought it a bad rule that would not work both ways. 
Accordingly I put two moths, which I caught in the window, into a 
paper box, with a few pieces of loose paper for them to lay their 
eggs upon. I a few daws the papers were covered with eggs. Af¬ 
ter’ destroying the moths, I put the box away till the following 
spring. Some time in March I opened the box, and found the eggs 
all hatched—the worms had crawled about, and for want of nourish¬ 
ment were all dead. I examined them through a microscope, and 
found them cut worms indeed, in miniature. Thus the natural his¬ 
tory of the cut worm was settled, in my own mind. The eggs are 
deposited about mid-summer, and a little after; these eggs soon 
hatch, and the young worms feed during the Warm weather of au¬ 
tumn. In the spring they come forth with voracious appetites, and 
feed till they get their growth, and then in the course of a few 
weeks pass through both changes into a moth. I have observed 
two varieties of the cut worm; alike in shape and nearly in size, 
when full grown, but different in color and habit. Those I experi¬ 
mented with were the common black kind, winch always eat off the 
plants above the surface of the ground. The other kind are lighter 
colored, almost transparent, with a red head, and eat oft' the young 
corn and other plants below the surface of the ground. This last 
kind generally abound in old sward. 
A WATERVLIET FARMER. 
Watervliet, October 4, 1836. 
EXTRACTS. 
MARL.— { Continued from page 135 .) 
EARTH-MARL. 
The former, though in substance, as we have already seen, sometimes prin¬ 
cipally formed of sand, is yet, in most cases, chiefly composed of clay, and of 
the carbonate of lime, intimately combined, but mixed in very different pro¬ 
portions, by which its properties are necessarily varied. It acts as manure 
physically, or substantially, through the effect of the clay, in rendering soils 
tenacious; and chemically, by the operation of lime, in the manner which has 
been explained in treating of that fossil These two substances are so com¬ 
pletely amalgamated, that it is not possible, either by the eye, or even hy a 
microscope, to distinguish the constituent particles of the one or of the other; 
the fact can, therefore, be only ascertained by chemical analysis, and the 
means which nature has employed in their combination is yet unknown; for 
although it might be supposed that mixtures of clay and lime would produce the 
same effect as marl, yet they will not fall to powder in the same manner when 
exposed to air; and it contains some fertilizing qualities with the powers of 
which we are unacquainted. Thus, in the improvement of Chat Moss, in 
Lancashire, if a piece of marl was suffered to lie a few months upon the 
ground, it was found, on raising it up. that a considerable quantity of the moss 
adhered to it; and if the intermediate substance was examined, it appeared to 
be a mixture of marl and peat, formed into a mucilaginous mass of a dark co¬ 
lour, and as soft as soap. 
Although it is very generally thought that extreme accuracy in philosophical 
experiments is useless in the practice of agriculture, yet it is particularly ne¬ 
cessary to ascertain the precise difference between these modes of action; for, 
of course, either one or the other prevails, according to the greater or the less 
quantity of clay of which the marl is composed. Thus, to produce the first 
named, or physical effect, a much larger amount must he laid upon the land 
than when the second is the object; for the clay can only be advantageously 
employed in that view upon soils that are too light; and consequently the marl 
must be laid in proportionate abundance, or it will not improve the condition 
of the ground; whilst a clayey soil would, on the contrary, lose some of its 
good qualities by the addition of marl, after the effects of the lime were ex¬ 
hausted. The intimate combination of these two substances m the composi¬ 
tion of marl affords it, however, this advantage—that it divides, and falls to 
powder, with greater ease than can be effected by any artificial mixture, and 
therefore unites more readily with the soil. 
On the other hand, if the calcareous matter in the marl be combined with 
sand instead of clay, or that there are, as in many instances, veins of calcare¬ 
ous sand intermixed, then it suits a clayey soil. The proportion in which 
these substances are combined is, however, so different, that they often vary 
in the same vein, and it is generally found that the bottom part is more calca¬ 
reous than the top. From 15 to 40 per cent is not unfrequently the portion of 
calcareous matter found in clay; that of a sandy nature generally contains a 
larger proportion.* 
I'he stone marl ofhilly countries is frequently still more abundant in calca¬ 
reous substance; but it also, in many other places, contains such large quanti¬ 
ties of extraneous matter, that it may be properly considered as belonging to 
the earthy species, and has, in some instances, been laid upon the land to the 
extent of 400 to 600 single horse cart-loads per acre, which heavy labor renders 
the use of lime more econimal, although carried from a greater distance, except 
in cases where the chief object is to loosen very stiff clays, on which it acts 
with considerable effect. 
The origin of earth-marl is a subject of curious inquiry. It is an object, 
however, of only secondary importance to farmers; but we refer those who 
feel interested in it to an ingenious treatise, which may be found in the Ap- 
* Argilaceous marl usually contains from 68 to 80 per cent of clay, and from 
32 to 20 per cent of calcareous matter: but it has been found composed of 70 
per cent of calcareous, and 8 to 10 of sand, with clear signs of some iron. 
Siliceous marl very often contains above 75 per cent of sand, consequently 
chalk and sand are the predominent ingredients. Kirwan on Manures, p. 13. 
The analysis made by Von Thaer, of a quantity dug out of pits at Olden- 
burgh, in Germany, showed it to contain in 100 parts 
Of fine sand.-.. 36 
Clay of a soapy kind. 44 
Mould.. 5 
Carbonate of lime.. 14 
Gypsum...... I 
— Principes Raisonucs cC Agriculture y 2de ed. tom* xi. p. 4-*3. 
